Gambia

2012

In the eight years since unidentified assailants shot and
killed Deyda Hydara of
the Gambia, no one has been held to account. The late 2004 murder of Hydara, an
immensely respected editor, columnist, and press freedom advocate known for his
criticism of President Yahya Jammeh's repressive media policies, became a
rallying point for Gambian journalists and the human rights community--a symbol
of the violent means by which activists and journalists are silenced and of the
impunity that envelops acts of intimidation, ranging from arson to torture and
murder.

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Lagos, Nigeria, November 16, 2012--The
Committee to Protect Journalists today said it holds authorities in the Gambia
responsible for the safety of a journalist who has received death threats
following critical coverage of the government.

Abubacarr Saidykhan, a freelancer who contributes to several news websites, told CPJ that four unknown people on Tuesday threatened him at his Ebo Town residence in Kanifing Municipality, some seven miles (11 kilometers) from the capital Banjul. Saidykhan said he was near his compound gate with his brother when the men drove up in an unmarked vehicle with tinted windows and threatened to kill him next time they see him. One of the men called him "a very stubborn journalist" before they drove off.

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Lagos,
Nigeria, September 17, 2012--State security agents in the Gambia on Friday
ordered two independent newspapers to cease publication immediately but
provided no explanation, according to local journalists and news reports.

Agents from the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) in the capital, Banjul, visited the offices of the daily The Standardand the paper Daily News, which publishes three times a week, and told them that the president had ordered both papers to be shut down immediately, according to news reports. The agents told the staff that they could seek an explanation from the president's office, which oversees the operations of the NIA, news reports said. The officials did not specify how long the suspension would last.

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Gambian
authorities detained Thomas Fessy, the West Africa correspondent of BBC World News, for several hours at the capital's
international airport on September 5, 2012, and ordered him to leave the country within
48 hours, the BBC reported.
Fessy returned to Senegal on September 7, 2012.

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New York, August 15, 2012--Gambian national
security agents summarily shut an independent
radio station early this morning without providing an explanation, according to
news reports. Authorities have censored Taranga FM at least twice before in retaliation
for its exclusive news review program, according to news reports.

Officers
of the Gambian National Intelligence Agency stormed Taranga
FM
studios in Sinchu Alhagie village, southwest of Banjul, the capital, and forced
it off the air, according to news reports. The officials
also took the station's license as well as the contact information of its board
members, local journalists said. The officers told the station staff only that
they had received "directives from above," news reports said.

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Abuja, Nigeria, July 11, 2012--A
Gambian judge ordered the arrest of a journalist Tuesday on contempt of court
charges, the third instance of a journalist being detained on such charges in
as many weeks, according to local journalists.

Police arrested Sidiq Asemota, the legal affairs correspondent of the pro-government Daily Observer, while he was on assignment at the High Court in Banjul, the capital, his employer reported. Judge Emmanuel Nkea of the Special Criminal Court had issued an arrest warrant for Asemota on Monday, news reports said.

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Abuja, Nigeria, June 25, 2012--The
Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the Gambian authorities to immediately
release or charge a journalist who has been in detention without charge longer
than the country's limit of 72 hours.

Abdulhamid Adiamoh, the managing editor of the Today
newspaper, was arrested
Wednesday in connection with an opinion article, "Counsel sidesteps issues in
cross-examination of [vice chancellor of the University of The Gambia ] Professor
Kah," in which he criticized a defense lawyer in the criminal trial
of a former lecturer at the university.

Many African leaders continue to offer a false choice between stability and press freedom. Taking a cue from China, a key investor and model, they stress social stability and development over openness and reform. By Mohamed Keita